“We wanted them to have something to stay together for — so we got an egg. Otherwise they might have become depressed,” said Yolanda Martin, their keeper.

Inca has reportedly taken a maternal role, perching on the egg throughout the day, while Rayas stands guard like any other proud father-to-be.

“This shows that parents of the same sex can care as well for their child and parenting of this kind can exist within sexual diversity,” Boti García, president of the Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals and Bisexuals told the paper.

Yet while Ms Martin conceded it was "lovely" to be involved in the tale, she has apparently taken exception to the media labelling the pair "gay", and insists they are merely "good friends".

Congrats are pouring in via Twitter, although it's not the first time a pair of "gay" birds have become parents.

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"Gay" Animal Cases

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Though speculation over the true nature of Buddy and Pedro's relationship continues, the African penguins will soon be separated and paired with females for breeding.

A bisexual penguin love triangle? In 2009, Harry and Pepper, two male penguins at the San Francisco Zoo, were a "couple" who even briefly raised a chick together when zookeepers gave them an egg. But Harry eventually left Pepper for Linda.

Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap penguins, met in 1998 at the water tank in Central Park Zoo. After they eventually raised a chick hatched from another penguin's egg, their "relationship" became the subject of the children's book "And Tango Makes Three."

Germany's Bremerhaven Zoo has been home to several pairs of same-sex penguins. In 2009, Z and Vielpunkt, two male Humboldt penguins at Germany's Bremerhaven Zoo, became the proud new parents of a healthy penguin chick."Another couple threw the egg out of their batch. We picked it up and put it in the nest of the gay penguins," veterinarian Joachim Schöne is quoted as saying.

Ninio was moved to a zoo in Poznan, Poland in hopes he would sire a herd, but the elephant showed a lack of interest in females, and his attitude toward fellow males was described as "affectionate."

As Haaretz reported in 2009, two male vultures (not pictured) named Dashik and Yehuda once engaged in a "fiery romance" at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo that made headlines in the international media, even building a joint nest. The birds' "relationship" eventually dissolved, when they eventually paired off with females, but, in a surprise twist, those females laid eggs on the same day, which also hatched on the same day.

As Pink News is reporting, Carlos and Fernando, two male flamingos at Britain's Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (not pictured), "came out" as a couple in 2001 and even raised chicks together after they stole eggs from neighboring straight couples.